Kafelnikov was known for chasing the money, so I'm not at all surprised. He played as much as he felt as he could, in singles and doubles, big and small tournaments. It wasn't until 2002 that he started to burn out, so pretty good going after such long and hard schedules since 1993 or so.

I think Kafelnikov also often came close or held the "most matches played in a season" record - usually that's a record for a #1 player who wins everything (and so plays a lot of matches), but Kafelnikov got it by just playing lots of extra tournaments that didn't help his ranking.

I simply dont get what is wrong with all the people on this forum. Everyone's complaining that tennis has no personality and that all the players say all the "politically correct" things. So what's wrong with what Berdych said?? He just stated what has been obvious this year. Berd has owned Almagro and yes Almagro is the weak link in the Spanish team. What's wrong with that??!!!
Such hypocritical behaviour by some of the people here. Seriously, stick to one thing.

I simply dont get what is wrong with all the people on this forum. Everyone's complaining that tennis has no personality and that all the players say all the "politically correct" things. So what's wrong with what Berdych said?? He just stated what has been obvious this year. Berd has owned Almagro and yes Almagro is the weak link in the Spanish team. What's wrong with that??!!!
Such hypocritical behaviour by some of the people here. Seriously, stick to one thing.

Click to expand...

I didn't mind it from an "injecting personality in the sport" perspective, but I still thought it was a stupid thing to say that has the potential to blow up in his face.

I didn't mind it from an "injecting personality in the sport" perspective, but I still thought it was a stupid thing to say that has the potential to blow up in his face.

Click to expand...

That's the best part of it :twisted:

I'm sick of all those top-players telling each other how great they are at every interview, every tournament. It's all so sensitive. All it takes these days for a player to be the new 'bad boy' of tennis is to say that you're absolutely sure you're going to win the next match. The arrogance! No respect! What will happen when he loses?

I'm sick of all those top-players telling each other how great they are at every interview, every tournament. It's all so sensitive. All it takes these days for a player to be the new 'bad boy' of tennis is to say that you're absolutely sure you're going to win the next match. The arrogance! No respect! What will happen when he loses?

Making fun of Almagro is NOTHING. How about making fun of Fed? Here are a couple of lines I'd suggest Berdie to say, "Roger who? Ahh, they guy sitting in the oldie retirement rocking chair. Well, bring him on. I beat the hell out of him the last few times we played, let's see, Wimby and USO. I'll kick his b***tts all over again..."
Go Berdie, Go Berdie, Go Berdie.
Heh, I'd be happy to be the messenger to bring the clip to Fed when Berdie says it. Hehe...

Kafelnikov and Hewitt both had 2 Slams but Hewitt also had 2 WTF and 2 Masters titles. Kafelnikov had none of those but he did win the Olympic singles gold medal, ironically at the 2000 Sydney Olympics!

Kafelnikov was known for chasing the money, so I'm not at all surprised. He played as much as he felt as he could, in singles and doubles, big and small tournaments. It wasn't until 2002 that he started to burn out, so pretty good going after such long and hard schedules since 1993 or so.

Click to expand...

Reminds me of Davydenko's famous reply to a journalist on this subject:

Berdych barely beat Almagro in 5 sets on a surface that heavily favors Berdych... and got his butt handed to him by Ferrer.

In essence, Spain lost this. It should never have gone to 5 matches.

Click to expand...

Does that make his statements any less correct?

He still beat Almagro, so did old man Stepanek. Ferrer’s comfortable wins only strengthen the view that Almagro was the weak link and the Spanish doubles team recent triumphs did not guarantee them any success here which was evident in their loss.

Good for Berdych, he was right on the money. Failmagro couldnt even beat an old semi retired Stepanek to clinch the tie for the Spaniards, never mind beating Berdych, as if that was ever going to happen, LOL! Not even a Berdych fan but he backed up exactly what he said, and all he said turned out right. The Spanish team should have used Verdasco instead. I am sure Verdasco could have atleast beaten old Stepanek which would have been enough.

berdych got his behind handed to him by a guy almost a foot shorter than him...he let ferrer intimidate him into submission in front of his home crowd...showed exactly why he'll never win a major..having stepanek rescue him and prove him right about almagro should be little consolation to him or his fans...he will not springboard from this like djokovic did...at heart, he's a loser

berdych got his behind handed to him by a guy almost a foot shorter than him...he let ferrer intimidate him into submission in front of his home crowd...showed exactly why he'll never win a major..having stepanek rescue him and prove him right about almagro should be little consolation to him or his fans...he will not springboard from this like djokovic did...at heart, he's a loser

Click to expand...

Yes, because so many other players have beaten "little Ferrer" the last month. He's a beast at the moment, no wonder players come up short against him. Even Federer had his problems with him at the WTF.

Berdy never said anything about Ferrer - he recognized him for what he was and chose not to criticize him as he did with Almagro. So your argument is invalid.

berdych got his behind handed to him by a guy almost a foot shorter than him...he let ferrer intimidate him into submission in front of his home crowd...showed exactly why he'll never win a major..having stepanek rescue him and prove him right about almagro should be little consolation to him or his fans...he will not springboard from this like djokovic did...at heart, he's a loser

Click to expand...

I dont think he will ever win a slam but he still has had a much better career than Almagro can dream of having. At this point in time he has had a better career than Ferrer too, unless Ferrer reaches a slam final.

They barely won, and he wasn't even the reason. Full credit to R-Steps and his fairy-tale ending.

:roll:

.

Click to expand...

Berdych won one singles and lost one singles; Stepanek won one singles and lost one singles; they both won the doubles. Berdych must have been at least 50% of the reason the Czechs won. They may have barely won but they did win.

Stepanek was too experienced for Almagro for a match as big as that taking place on indoor hardcourt in the Czech Republic. Nobody should be surprised that Stepanek won the decisive match. An experienced guy ranked 37 in the world playing at home in such a huge match inspires more confidence, to me, than a higher ranked but more flaky, unorthodox player who's away from home and not playing on his best surface (i.e. clay).

Stepanek was too experienced for Almagro for a match as big as that taking place on indoor hardcourt in the Czech Republic. Nobody should be surprised that Stepanek won the decisive match.

Spain blew their best chance on the Saturday.

Click to expand...

I was a bit surprised to be honest.

The world #11 lost to a has-been 33 (almost 34) year old doubles player, who came into the match with a 23-26 record for the year. Radek's last tournament included a loss to Brian Baker (on indoor hardcourt), and his last match against Almagro was a 4-set loss at the US Open.

The world #11 lost to a has-been 33 (almost 34) year old doubles player, who came into the match with a 23-26 record for the year. Radek's last tournament included a loss to Brian Baker (on indoor hardcourt), and his last match against Almagro was a 4-set loss at the US Open.

Click to expand...

Yes, but this is pointing out the players' forms in general, which doesn't really apply when it comes to such a big one-off match like the fifth rubber of a Davis Cup final. It's like a derby match in football, where overall form books tend to go out the window. Stepanek is still ranked at number 37 in the world, so he's not totally over the hill. And the Davis Cup final atmosphere changes things. It was big for the Czech Republic, it took place in the Czech Republic, and it was on indoor hardcourt. These are crucial factors.

bs...big talker who was mauled by his "equal" in the rankings, ferrer....czechs won..berdych did nothing to enhance his reputation among anybody...compare him to murray...a guy who basically has kept his head down, taken all the vitriol that came his way, didn't trash talk lower-ranked players and now has a slam and an olympic gold medal...i was actually warming to berdych's chances of becoming like murray, a slam champion...he showed exactly why he won't this weekend...having stepanek rescue you does not make you a hero

Well Almagro proved with this loss the guy just does not have the mental toughness. Radek might be almost 34 years old but he's a former top 10 player and he also has more big match experience than Almagro. Nicholas has a lot to do if he wants to become a contender. I think Corretja made a huge mistake Lopez or Verdaco would have beaten Radek or at least pushed him harder.

bs...big talker who was mauled by his "equal" in the rankings, ferrer....czechs won..berdych did nothing to enhance his reputation among anybody...compare him to murray...a guy who basically has kept his head down, taken all the vitriol that came his way, didn't trash talk lower-ranked players and now has a slam and an olympic gold medal...i was actually warming to berdych's chances of becoming like murray, a slam champion...he showed exactly why he won't this weekend...having stepanek rescue you does not make you a hero

Click to expand...

What a load of bull ... everyone knows he is the real reason the Czechs have done it! Look at the whole DC year

The world #11 lost to a has-been 33 (almost 34) year old doubles player, who came into the match with a 23-26 record for the year. Radek's last tournament included a loss to Brian Baker (on indoor hardcourt), and his last match against Almagro was a 4-set loss at the US Open.

Click to expand...

Well he does have wins over other players in that 8-15 range (DelPo/Gasquet/Dolgo/Isner) all on hard court and has taken sets off of Murray and Djokovic this year, was playing brilliant in Shanghai a month ago and presumably took Paris off to prepare for this.

bs...big talker who was mauled by his "equal" in the rankings, ferrer....czechs won..berdych did nothing to enhance his reputation among anybody...compare him to murray...a guy who basically has kept his head down, taken all the vitriol that came his way, didn't trash talk lower-ranked players and now has a slam and an olympic gold medal...i was actually warming to berdych's chances of becoming like murray, a slam champion...he showed exactly why he won't this weekend...having stepanek rescue you does not make you a hero

Click to expand...

Exactly, people praising Berdych's badmouthing don't seem to realize that his ass was bailed out by Stepanek.

Stepanek lost to Ferrer but there is no shame in losing to the world nr.5 when you are nr.33 in the world.

Berdych, the guy with the slam final, the sixth player of the world nearly got beat AT HOME, ON A FASTCOURT, by a guy who only has clay titles to his resume. And in the end it was Almagro's s**t serve that undid him in the fifth. With the trashtalking and bad blood I would've thought that Birdman would at least win in straights with bakery products but that was clearly not the case.

In doubles there is no doubt that Worm carried the team.

Berdych, when he had the chance to clinch it and be a hero, was manhandled by the guy who is next to him in rankings, Ferrer. And while David can play on fastcourt, you wouldn't expect him to maul Berdych at home.

So at 2 all, Stepanek came through and beat a guy who is ranked 20 places above him. He dealt with the pressure wonderfully even if Almagro didn't exactly play his best tennis.

Berdych barely beat the guy he was supposed to trash, was mauled by his equal and was carried by his much lower ranked partner in doubles.

How is he the hero again?

What Berdych did was the equivalent of trashtalking someone while hiding behind your big brother(even though, by rank, berdych should have been the big bro here).

At the start of this tie I thought that the spaniards would get crushed but they actually had a fighting chance. I can't believe I'm saying this, but Verdasco would have probably put up a better performance in singles, against stepanek at least.

Berdych, the guy with the slam final, the sixth player of the world nearly got beat AT HOME, ON A FASTCOURT, by a guy who only has clay titles to his resume. And in the end it was Almagro's s**t serve that undid him in the fifth. With the trashtalking and bad blood I would've thought that Birdman would at least win in straights with bakery products but that was clearly not the case.

Exactly, people praising Berdych's badmouthing don't seem to realize that his ass was bailed out by Stepanek.

Stepanek lost to Ferrer but there is no shame in losing to the world nr.5 when you are nr.33 in the world.

Berdych, the guy with the slam final, the sixth player of the world nearly got beat AT HOME, ON A FASTCOURT, by a guy who only has clay titles to his resume. And in the end it was Almagro's s**t serve that undid him in the fifth. With the trashtalking and bad blood I would've thought that Birdman would at least win in straights with bakery products but that was clearly not the case.

Exactly, people praising Berdych's badmouthing don't seem to realize that his ass was bailed out by Stepanek.

Stepanek lost to Ferrer but there is no shame in losing to the world nr.5 when you are nr.33 in the world.

Berdych, the guy with the slam final, the sixth player of the world nearly got beat AT HOME, ON A FASTCOURT, by a guy who only has clay titles to his resume. And in the end it was Almagro's s**t serve that undid him in the fifth. With the trashtalking and bad blood I would've thought that Birdman would at least win in straights with bakery products but that was clearly not the case.

In doubles there is no doubt that Worm carried the team.

Berdych, when he had the chance to clinch it and be a hero, was manhandled by the guy who is next to him in rankings, Ferrer. And while David can play on fastcourt, you wouldn't expect him to maul Berdych at home.

So at 2 all, Stepanek came through and beat a guy who is ranked 20 places above him. He dealt with the pressure wonderfully even if Almagro didn't exactly play his best tennis.

Berdych barely beat the guy he was supposed to trash, was mauled by his equal and was carried by his much lower ranked partner in doubles.

How is he the hero again?

What Berdych did was the equivalent of trashtalking someone while hiding behind your big brother(even though, by rank, berdych should have been the big bro here).

At the start of this tie I thought that the spaniards would get crushed but they actually had a fighting chance. I can't believe I'm saying this, but Verdasco would have probably put up a better performance in singles, against stepanek at least.

Click to expand...

Berdych won, Almagro lost! Nothing elese needs to be said.

First off, Berdych did not trash talk Ferrer, he knows better than that. He talked down Almagro and the Spanish doubles team, and everything he said ended up being true.

And if you think Stepanek won this DC rubber on his own, you obviously were not watching last weekend...